Then God Smiles.

00-LUKE-KINDLE Cover-ThumbnailI adore you, God. I praise you. I lift up my heart to you and my heart feels as though it will burst with joy. You are the water I drink for life and which turns my life into a glorious adventure.  You are the words I read to discover your love and my mind leaps from one marvelous revelation of you to another.  You are the light I follow to keep me on the path that rises before me and leads to the heights of your world. I will follow your path forever. I will keep on walking and keep on walking and keep on walking until at last, I walk right through the gates of glory into your home.

I thank you, God, for the good life you have given me. I haven’t been perfect, of course, because Satan is always right around the corner trying to distract me from you. How he hates love. Sometimes I give in to him, ashamed even as I do it. When things get too rough, you step in and carry me until I regain my strength. Then I rise like a bird soaring to its nest on a high mountain. And you smile.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?          https://amzn.to/2FBLxq8

.

00-LUKE-KINDLE Cover-ThumbnailLUKE: SLAVE & PHYSICIAN reveals the Roman world where physicians were always family slaves.  Perhaps he was 8 years old when his people lost the Battle of Baduhenna Wood and he became a spoil of war and taken by Tribune Theophilus.  Unable to believe his father had been killed, he spends the next 40 years searching for him.  Along the way, Theophilus trains him to be a physician, they meet Paul, and Luke spends Paul’s final ten years tending to a stubborn man whose body bears the ravages of a greater war.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://amzn.to/2FBLxq8

.

#LoveforGod, #happinessinGod, #temptation, #carriedbyGod, #heaven, #Lukeslave&physician, #Romans, #BattleofBaduhennaWood, #spoilofwar, #apostlepaul, #tribunetheophilus, ##inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,#katherynmaddoxhaddad

https://amzn.to/2FBLxq8

Rushing into his arms

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-The scripture for today, April 26 (4/26), is Galatians 4:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.”

There is more confusion over the “new Jerusalem” than you might think.  Well, let’s ask God.

What is “the Jerusalem that is above”? Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

Aha! We learn two things.  The New Jerusalem already exists.  And the New Jerusalem is sometimes called our mother and sometimes the Bride of Christ!

 So, what is the Bride of Christ? Ephesians 5:25,27 says, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy…and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”  How exciting! The New Jerusalem, which is the Bride of Christ, is the Church – all of us.

What else can we learn about the New Jerusalem?  Well, the foundation of the New Jerusalem is the apostles. Revelation says it, and Ephesians 2:20 says it.

Hmmm.  This is getting more interesting all the time.  Okay, let’s look at the 12 gates leading into the church. They are the 12 tribes of Israel, Judaism, where all the prophecies of Jesus are found. 

Always check out the symbolism in the Bible. It deepens your spiritual understanding. Like the Walls of Salvation around the New Jerusalem insurmountably high (Isaiah 26:1 & 60:18). The River of Life and Tree of Life are there in the New Jerusalem.  Just imagine on the final day when the church arrives in heaven, and we are all arrayed in sinless white and are rushing into the arms of our groom, our Jesus.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?        https://amzn.to/3bEHw1L

.

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE is by far the most sought-after of all 70 of my books.  It is about a man obsessed, a man who can never do enough to make up for imprisoning, torturing, and killing God’s children. He spends forty-five years going from one city to another daring them to stop him.  They harass him, beat him, starve him, rob him, imprison him, lash him, hound him to the next city. Nothing works.  He knows when he enters a city what they will do to him.  He knows!  But he cannot stop him.  Each time they torture him, he cries out, “Jesus!  This is for you!” At the beginning of the book, he is tall, robust, athletic. By the end, he is stooped, disfigured, the shell of a man, but never defeated.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/3bEHw1L

Perhaps the time is now

000-COVER-KINDLE-ThumbnailThe scripture for today, April 25 (4/25), is Proverbs 4:25 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

There are a lot of interesting and fun distractions in life, so we have to remind ourselves over and over what is most important to us. We have only so much time in a day and in a lifetime. We can run back and forth from one side road to another; one fun thing to another, one power thing to another, one great–looking thing to another.

Before we know it, we have been on that side road a long time. Too long actually.  We can barely see the main road we were on before. And God? He is now so far away. How can that be?  We were always told God would always be there for us.

But God pretty much treats us the way we treat him. If we don’t like being around him, he doesn’t much like being around us. If we don’t like listening to his word (the Bible), he doesn’t much like listening to our word (prayer). If we don’t like to spend special time with him, he doesn’t much like to spend special time with us. God gives us the same courtesy we give him. God will not force himself on us, for he is a Gentleman.

Button-Divider Line

I wrote the above a few years ago.  Looks like we do not have any excuses now.  Looks like it’s time to look back on the road(s) we have been traveling. Have you been so caught up, you have not realized how treacherous it is. Or perhaps you’re on a good road going the right direction, but it needs some repairs done here and there. Where have you ended up at this point in your life?  Sit down and write God a letter.  Level with him; he leveled with you in his Bible.  It’s your turn.  And it looks like the best time to do it ~ the best time we’ve had in decades ~ is now.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?          http:// bit.ly/ LazarusSamaritan

.

000-COVER-KINDLE-ThumbnailLAZARUS: THE SAMARITAN. This is the story of the Good Samaritan and forty-five years of his life as he also lives through most of Jesus’ other parables. Zarus endures false imprisonment, a cruel indenturement, a mine collapse, a brutal sandstorm, an earthquake, an epidemic, and kidnapping. What is all the exhilaration and heartache for? What is life all about, especially when it is hard? Why are we here?  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  http:// bit.ly/ LazarusSamaritan

.

#GoodSamaritan, #roadsoflife, #directionsoflife, #LazarustheSamaritan, #timeflies, #timestandingstill, #whyarewehere #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,#katherynmaddoxhaddad

The eternal mountain

Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride, Eccelsia-THUMBNAILThe Scripture for today, April 24 (4/24), is Jeremiah 4:24 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.”

I was living in a village near the bottom of Mt. St. Helens when it blew.  We had lived there for eight years. We had taken our children up to it and gone sledding, building snow forts, making snow angels, the works. 

It was our mountain. Our beautiful mountain. It reminded me of an upside-down ice-cream cone.  It was perfect in every way.  Everyone knew it was a volcano, but it had formed thousands of years before and would continue like it was for thousands of years in the future. It was our mountain, and it belonged to us to do with as we pleased.

But it wasn’t our mountain.  One morning I looked outside. It seemed as though we had been plunged into the inside of a furnace with all its ashes. I stared. It was snowing gray ash.  I stared more, wondering what the birds had done.  Relieved, I saw them huddled together under bushes.

Of course, the radio and TV had switched to Emergency. We were told to stay indoors because ash is deadly to the lungs. If we did go out, we had to wear surgical masks. If we drove, we were told to put nylons over the air filter and to not go over 10 mph.  Even then, the ash flew everywhere. Our freeway entrance and exit were blocked. The most disturbing thing I heard on the radio (yes, everyone kept their radio on) was that we were at the top of the San Andreas Fault.  And so, we like the birds, huddled and waited for more unknown.

Not only was our mountain turned inside out, but our world was too.

People have expressions that something is “as eternal as the mountains” or “as old as the hills.”  Not true. Nothing on earth is eternal. That also includes things, people, power, position, belongings, even dreams.  Eventually, they quake and sway and are gone. Only that which is spiritual is forever.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?          https://amzn.to/3eP9tWm

.

Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride, Eccelsia-THUMBNAILLOVES LETTERS OF JESUS & HIS BRIDE, ECCLESIA, is based on the Song of Solomon and portrayed as the church (“ecclesia”) being his bride at the end of time when the wedding feast will be held in heaven.  Each chapter in this book reflects events of each chapter in the S of S in a spiritual way.  Good for both a Bible class and personal reading and meditation.  Also a gift book, the font is in papyrus script and a watermark of a bride appears on each page of the interior.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://amzn.to/3eP9tWm  

.

#mountains, #eternity, #things, #stuff, #power, #troubles, #church, #brideofchrist, #Lovelettersofjesus&hisbrideecclesia, #ecclesia, #weddingfeast, #songofsolomon, #pride, #ego,#inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,#katherynmaddoxhaddad

Beyond me.

365 Dat by Date-Front-ThumbnailAh, God of life, God of the seeable and of the hearable. I magnify your very name and look up to you beyond the stars. You made me so you could love me. You are my life and love. You take pleasure in me even though I am weak and sinful. Your mercy and love are beyond me. You envelop me in your arms of safety and comfort. You cover me with your wings of shelter during the storms of my life. You are my all.

There is so much to be grateful to you for. Thank you for making it possible for me to speak directly to you. Still, my restless nature fights it. My mind wants to be in control of everything I do and say. My body is restless and wants to keep moving around. You draw my mind into prayer with you and, when I do not fight it, I find you. Then, empty of my will, I whisper to you, I shout to you, I sigh to you. Make your will mine, I declare. And so you do. While hungering for you, you fill me with thoughts of activities to redirect my body so it, once again, is a reflection of you and your doings. Thank you, Lord, for being in me.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?      https://amzn.to/3eHcwQx

.

365 Dat by Date-Front-Thumbnail365 LIFE-CHANGING SCRIPTURES DAY BY DATE.  This unique daily devotional reading has no order except the calendar.  Since March is the third month, on 3/16, guess which Bible verse does it speak of?  Yes. John 3:16.  Look up your birthday or give it as a gift for a birthday or anniversary with a bookmark for their special date.  While everyone is quarantined, why take the challenge and read one month every day?  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/3eHcwQx

.

#dailydevotional,#dailymeditation, #dailymeditation, #365lifechangingscripturesdaybydate, #Bibleverses, #randomscriptures, #goldenbiblethoughts,  #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,#katherynmaddoxhaddad

He poured his heart out

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-ThumbnailThe scripture for today, April 22 (4/22), is Proverbs 4:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

.” ..for they [my words] are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.”

God poured out his heart and soul in the Bible. He revealed his most inner feelings ~ all his desires and disappointments, all his moments of highest joy and deepest sorrow, all his dreams and plans and hopes for us.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever bared your heart and soul to someone else? Would you do it for just anyone? Would you do it if you did not trust the person, especially if the person did not even like you?

That’s what God did. This thought escapes my mind and soars to galaxies unknown. They begin in a mist and burst forth in reality. To know the inner-most thoughts of my God and my Creator!

With this thought in mind, why not read the entire Bible, beginning to end? Perhaps you can read a chapter a day. Or, if you want to read it through in a year, you can count the total number of pages in your Bible, divide by 365, and read that number of pages each day. Or, if you have time, why not go all out and read it in just a few sittings? This will take on new meaning for your life. No matter how many times you read it, there are always new meanings waiting for your mind to grasp it, cling to it, and grace your life.

So much comfort. So much information. So much of answering our questions of how and why.  So much of reading God pouring his heart out and filling an empty soul.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?        https://amzn.to/2RZlf6T

.

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-ThumbnailTHE HOLY SPIRIT: 592 VERSES EXAMINED reveals everything in the Bible God wants us to know about his Spirit ~ no more and no less. By grouping scriptures together on the same subject, understanding changes from complicated to simple.  The Bible always interprets itself.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2RZlf6T

.

#HOLYSPIRITIN592VERSES, #POURHEARTOUT, #BIBLE, #SCRIPTURES, #INSIGHTS, #REVEALMIND, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,#katherynmaddoxhaddad

A sea of tranquility graced by a ray of humility

The scripture for today, April 20 (4/20), is 1st John 4:20 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”

08-Come Fly-ChildsCartoonThumbnailCoverJealousy and hatred are very much akin. Are there people you are jealous of? Do they have a position you want, and so you say and do things to undermine their character or work, so you can get their position? Do you have a position you love, and there is a new person who could perform better, so you undermine that person’s ability in order to protect your position?

God eliminates jealousy this way: Do what you do best in private. What you accomplish that everyone knows about isn’t as important to him as what you accomplish when no one is around to praise you. Jesus said those who receive acclamation by people already have their reward.(Matthew 6:1-5, 16-18).

 Is divine reward from Almighty God for eternity so inferior in your mind that you would sacrifice it all to be number one?

Ah, my Lord God, forgive me. Pride stands between you and me. Take hold of my awful pride and dissolve it in a sea of tranquility graced by a ray of humility.

 

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?      https://amzn.to/3eEjq90

LINK to all BOOKS by CATEGORY:             http://bit.ly/MyBookInfo
LINK to all BOOKS on AMAZON:    http://bit.ly/AmazonBooksByKatheryn
.

08-Come Fly-ChildsCartoonThumbnailCoverCOME FLY WITH ME is storybook #8 in A CHILD’S LIFE OF CHRIST for ages 3-12.   At the end of every chapter is “Think & Do” for your child to apply something from that chapter in their life, usually a good work such as taking a cookie to a neighbor and calling a shut-in to sing to them or calling an unpopular child at school to say hi.  Perfect for the early reader with large font and dashes between syllables of big words. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….   https://amzn.to/3eEjq90

.

loveGod, #hatrebrother, #unseenGod, #jealousy, #envy, #humility, #pride, #resurrection, #heaven,  #SeeingGod, #raisedfromdeath, #Childslifeofchrist, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,#katherynmaddoxhaddad

You are my soul.

06-PROMISE KEEPER-ChildsCartoonThumbnailA child’s cooing praises you. A lion’s roaring praises you. An ocean rising and falling praises you. Rainbows and snow tops and diamonds in sparkling waters praise you. Everything I see, every sound I hear, everything I touch is full of praises for you. You are everywhere and you, my God, are my soul.  You are farther above me in love than the most distant star. Your mercy plunges into the depths of the ocean where sometimes my spirit struggles to breathe. You go where ever you are needed to take care of your bride.  Me your bride? I am overwhelmed.

Ah, my Lord, how I long to see you as you are. Life here is too long. I know I must do my share in conquering Satan and making him ever weaker. But, when my work is done, I get to be in your realm and exchange smiles with you. What a day it will be. A glorious day when I, your bride, will be united with you forever.  Thank you for your promises.  They are faithful. They are true. They are amazing.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?        https://amzn.to/2yoH6h8

.

06-PROMISE KEEPER-ChildsCartoonThumbnailPROMISE KEEPER is storybook #6 in A CHILD’S LIFE OF CHRIST for ages 3-12.  At the end of every chapter is “Think & Do” for your child to apply something from that chapter in their life, usually a good work such as taking a cookie to a neighbor and calling a shut-in to sing to them or calling an unpopular child at school to say hi.  Perfect for the early reader with large font and dashes between syllables of big words. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2yoH6h8

.

#heaven, #singingsong, #infantsbabies, #mountains, #cooing, #lions, #inspiration, #fightingsatan, #SeeingGod, #purposeoflife, #PromiseKeeper, #Childslifeofchrist, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,#katherynmaddoxhaddad

Where’s your crown?

Road to Heaven-COVER-KINDLE-THUMBNAILThe scripture for today, April 8 (4/8), is 2nd Timothy 4:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day ~ and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

The Apostle Paul was somewhere around his seventies at this writing. He’d been converted probably in his thirties. He’d spent the past forty years calling the bluff of all the governments who made it illegal to be a Christian on pain of death. Forty years of defying them all and telling people how to escape a place they didn’t believe they were going to and disrupting the religion they already had.  

Forty years of tolerating persecution, sometimes hungry and cold and beaten and hated. Forty years of seldom staying in a city longer than a few months, always on the go.  Forty years of never being satisfied with the number of people he had reached with the Good News of their escape from Satan, the Good News of a God who actually loved them, Good News of heaven.

Now he is in prison.

“I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Oh, that we all could say this at the end of our life.

.

I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?’          https://amzn.to/2RkH54u

.

Road to Heaven-COVER-KINDLE-THUMBNAILTHE ROAD TO HEAVEN.  The road was never simple. It had many detours. It all began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned and their souls immediately died as God said it would. Satan had them and intended to keep all mankind.  So, God developed a plan. It took thousands of years to put the plan together. But finally, Jesus came.  He faced Satan head-on at the cross.  Satan had no choice but to release mankind at last.  A good read during the Easter Season. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2RkH54u

.

#ApostlePaul, #PaultheUnstoppable, #stubbornlove, #callingbluff, #governmentstatereligion, #theroadtoheaven, #gardenofeden, #originalsin, #hell, #ransom, #crucifixion, #easter, #resurrection, “savedfromhell, #ransom, #KatherynMaddoxHaddad, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer, #praise, #forgiveness, #heaven,

Prayer for Sunday 3/29

04-FOLK HERO-Child'sCartoon-ThumbnailAh, Lord God, you, are my warrior who keeps Satan away, my priest who presents me to yourself, my king who welcomes me into your kingdom. You are my shepherd who feeds me, my Creator who gives me life every day, my sun to bring me light. You are my guide, my love, my savior, my friend. You are my Lord whom I adore. I fall at your feet overwhelmed with your love.

Thank you, God of mankind, God of angels, God of all inanimate things. You created beauty for me and music. Oh, music with its sounds high and low, fast and slow, rhythmic and steady ~ all orchestrated to be your song to me. For colors. Oh, colors! dark and light, meshed and singular, flowing in and out of each other, painted by your finger as a gift to me. For touches soft and rough mixed and alone, fast and slow, all put together to form your embrace. You delight in me and how I adore you.

.

I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/2QNRWUn

.

04-FOLK HERO-Child'sCartoon-ThumbnailFOLK HERO is storybook #4 in A CHILD’S LIFE OF CHRIST.  It has the same chapters as the adult HEARTS AFIRE in THEY MET JESUS series with stories on a child’s level.  At the end of each of the ten chapters in each storybook is Think & Do to help the child apply that story to their daily life.  This is a great time to read with your child.  Understandable at age 3 and up to 12. At age 13, they should switch to the adult version.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………  https://amzn.to/2QNRWUn

https://amzn.to/2UI8myO

 

#nature, #Creator&Maker, #Spring, #music, #color, #melody, #touch, #folkhero, #achildslifeofchrist, #KatherynMaddoxHaddad, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #faith, #prayer